Do You Understand This Dialogue?

Amira, your explanation to Question A is excellent. I want everyone to see that without a comma after “No way” the sentence is continuous and the explanation Amira wrote nails it.

However, in Question B with a comma after “No way,” it changes the meaning to the same as if the comma was a period. In other words “No way” answers the question that they will not pay the $200 fee. The remaining sentence tells the intent of Scott and Mary which is to take the car back to the dealer.

Everyone, please submit your thoughts on this lesson to clarify any confusion. I’ll offer more explanation afterwards.

Hello, Mr. Alston,

A. No way we’ll take it back to the dealership.

No, it’s impossible to take it back to the dealership. We’re going to pay the $200 here and get it fixed.

B. No way, we’ll take it back to the dealership.

No, we will not pay the $200. We’ll take it back to the dealership.

Julito, please answer separately for Questions A and B.

Anja, please reconsider your answer. You did answer separately for each question.

A is  a Yes 

B is a  No

Hello. .. i go for a No…

Lesson No. 82- The Importance of a Comma

Scenario:

Mary’s car made a very strange noise when making a right turn. Since she didn’t know anything about the mechanics of a car she asked her friend Scott if he could help her to get her car fixed.

They took the car to the car dealership and the technician diagnosed the car but could not readily find the problem but charged her $100 as a diagnostic fee.

Dissatisfied, Scott recommended taking the car to a repair shop on the poor side of town to have an old-school mechanic diagnose the problem.

After putting the car on the lift, the mechanic identified the problem that a nut came loose on a suspension part and told Scott it would cost $200 to repair the problem.

Scott communicates the result to Anne:

Scott: Anne, the mechanic found the problem and it will cost $200.

Anne: What do you suggest?

Scott:  No way we’ll take it back to the dealership.

Question:

This statement can be interpreted as yes and no to return the car to the dealership by the placement of the comma (after No way.) Can you tell which sentence is yes and no?

A. No way we’ll take it back to the dealership.

B. No way, we’ll take it back to the dealership.

Blue-sonnet, thanks for your gracious comments. Glad to see that you are now active.

Continue your participation and you will gain more experience communicating in English.

Thank you for your awesome lessons.

But I’m not such abrode! :D I just wasn’t active for a while. Maybe you have forgotten me, but I never forget your advice about learning English:

“ A mistake is not necessarily failure but a learning experience to indicate what didn’t work. It’s been said, “The door of success is entered through the hallway of failure!”… “  

Which has helped me a lot, not just for learning English but in my entire life. Thanks for beeing such a kind and generous teacher. 

Explanation for Lesson No. 81- Double Meaning Phrases:

Bingo Anja! You hit the nail on the head when you use “to continue” as the meaning of the phrase “carry on” in the dialogue which is exactly what it means.

Let’s take a closer look for the sake of understanding in the use of this phrase.

Re-statement of the lesson:

An air traveler is at the airport terminal preparing to check in for a flight. She has a carry-on bag desires to carry it on the flight.

Ticket Clerk: Are you planning to check your bag or carry on?

Passenger: I intend to carry-on.

Ticket Clerk: Ok, ”carry on” Ms. Smith and have a nice trip!

Question:

What is the meaning of the ticket clerk telling Ms. Smith to “carry on?”

Explanation:

1. Luggage that is small can be taken aboard an airplane instead of checking it in as “check in luggage.” If you choose to take your small luggage with you, it’s called “carry-on luggage” because you are carrying it with you.

2. The ticket clerk asked Ms. Smith if she was going to check her luggage in or carry it onboard. Ms. Smith answered that it was carry on luggage.

3. The ticket clerk encouraged her to “carry on” and have a nice trip. In this statement, the meaning of the phrase “carry on” changes from “carry on luggage” to a different meaning of “continue on” with your trip.

The context determines the meaning of the phrase which changed very quickly in this dialogue.

Often in a romantic relationship that ends, one person may say to the other: “I’m going to carry on with my life.” In other words, “I’m going to continue with my life apart from you!”

The purpose of this lesson was to demonstrate how phrases can have more than one meaning depending on the context.

Julito- As a result of being corrected, you will be sharper; this is how we all learn.

Blue-sonnet- Welcome aboard (no pun intended.)

Anja – Keep on keeping on!

Mr. Alston : ohh. yes, I stand corrected.

As l know, here ‘to carry on’ means ‘to take something with yourself’. infact Ms. Smith wants to take her bag with herself.

To my one American ear ‘to carry on’ with something is the same as someone would tell you ‘to go on or to continue’. When it comes to airport terminology you often hear “please proceed...” which in my opinion is the same.

Hello Julito, good to hear from you again.

Please look carefully at the dialogue:

1. The gender of the passenger is female (Ms. Smith not Mr. Smith)

2. The question is seeking the meaning of the statement of the ticket clerk telling Ms. Smith to “carry on,” not the passenger informing the ticket clerk that she intends to carry her bag on the plane.

Hint: The phrase “carry on” has a double meaning.

In this case ” to carry on” would mean that the passenger assures the clerk that he will be boarding the plane carrying the bag with him.

Lesson No. 81- Double Meaning Phrases:

An air traveler is at the airport terminal preparing to check in for a flight. She has a carry-on bag desires to carry it on the flight.

Ticket Clerk: Are you planning to check your bag or carry on?

Passenger: I intend to carry-on.

Ticket Clerk: Ok, ”carry on” Ms. Smith and have a nice trip!

Question:

What is the meaning of the ticket clerk telling Ms. Smith to “carry on?”

Anja, I can always count on you to come through. Your answer is right on point with background to boot. Thanks, and welcome back!

Explanation of Lesson No. 80 – Using Context to Determine the Meaning of a Word

Restatement of the lesson:

In certain areas near farms farmers set up road side stands to sell various types of vegetables they grow. However, at a farmers market many growers come together to sell a “cornucopia” of produce.

Questions:

1. Judging from the context, what is the meaning of the word “cornucopia” without using a dictionary?

2. The word “produce” has 3 meanings; please explain these meanings (you can use a dictionary.)

Explanation:

Anja has already given an excellent explanation of this lesson, so my job is relatively easy. Anyway, I’ll point out some key items to look for to get an idea of the meaning of the word “cornucopia.”

You can see from the text that individual farmers sell produce (food) that they grow on their farms and sell at roadside stands. Individual farmers don’t grow every type of vegetable but are selective in what they grow. For example, one farmer may grow corn and potatoes. Another farmer may grow lettuce, cabbage, and spinach. So on and so forth.

Answers:

1. At a farmer’s market many farmers come together to sell their produce (vegetables.) There is a cornucopia of various types of vegetables, or in other words the meaning of cornucopia is an abundance of produce (vegetables) that was for sell.

2. The word “produce” has more than one meaning. In the dialogue lesson, produce is a noun and means foodstuffs, i.e. vegetables, fruit, dairy products. The pronunciation is very close to the other two except in this case there is a slight pause between “pro-duce.”

The other two uses of the word are as follows:

2. Produce (verb) means to manufacture something.

3. Produce (verb) means to cause a particular result or situation to come into existence.

The context will determine which meaning applies to the appropriate word.

Miyatxl – The second man was answering his friend humorously encouraging his friend to put emphasis on using the word young to apply to him. Please scroll back to May 25, 2016 for a detailed explanation.

Yulia – Welcome! If you continue to come to this website, you’ll learn more English.

I want comunication with people.I live in Ukraine.i am know english little,but i must learning this language because it like me.My viber number 0632426423

Hello everybody

What is this mean?The young was too young to afford something?

I know what a cornucopia is. It’s been one of the tradiotional symbols for Thanksgiving in the western branches of Christianity. Therefore I believe to know what the meaning of 

“to sell a cornucopia of produce” is:

It’s really nice to see that the farmers offer/sell a diversity or a wide variety of produce. ( Figuratively speaking there’s an abundance of greens)

 In the context produce is used as a noun: Nowadays you can also find organic produce in commercial supermarkets. ( Here we talk about the goods or green grocery)

Another noun but with a different meaning: When it comes to acricultural produce Germany ranks on the 5th place. Yet, a great deal of the production is used internally.

We all know and use produce mainly as a verb in the every day language. We produce new ideas, results and profits.  Our body produces vitamin D and you Alston produced another masterpiece on Ebaby!

Thanks for taking the time to create another interesting lesson! Cheers!